The Travels of Juubi and Sage
by Amidamaru88
Summary: Inspired by Reading the Future: Naruto's True Nindo by xxHinaAngelxx this will be something similar to it and yet different. "We have seen countless worlds, come let us show you the peak and the bottom that your kin can reach"
1. Chapter 1 : The Place is chosen

**I do not own Naruto.** If I did, Naruto would have had a threesome with Hinata and Shion, saved Tayuya and met Fu on his training trip.

**Chapter 1 : The place is chosen**

Two figures stood gazing at the Elemental Nations only a liquid wall before them, the taller of the two a blond with spiky blond hair spoke.  
"This world barres many possibilities'' the second figure a female with midnight blue hair and white eyes nodded before speaking.  
"Indeed there is much that can be done here before we must leave. Do you wish to undertake that project?" she asked looking at him.  
The first figure stood still for a moment before scratching the back of his head and turning his gaze to her "You know me too well. Yes this world is just the place for it". The second figure smiled "It comes with time, and you're not that hard to read". The male pouted and looked away from her. The woman returned her gaze and looked towards the thick wall before them  
"Before we begin we should send a few of our seekers to find if there are more like this one, there could be a few similar ones connected to this one" she spoke moving her hand gently towards the wall.  
The male smiled and nodded his head "I think we just found something that will keep us busy for a long time to come" both figures brought there right hands close to there chests and raised two fingers of there hands, the middle and index one, before a wave of energy surged around them and expanded before it flickered out.  
"Done, I can't wait to see what they find" the male spoke before moving closer to the wall. "Indeed" she spoke before they began to hold hands.  
"Shall we begin?" she asked with a mischievous smile on her face. "Yes, let us begin" the male answered with a smile to match her own. The two stood still for a moment gazing into each others eyes before walking towards the wall and entering it.

**Konoha, midnight, a few days later.**

"Ready? I have the supplies" the female asked as she looked at the male who was finishing a drawing and elaborate seal, "Yeah, I'm ready" he spoke nodding his head. The two figures began using hand signs before slamming their hands down on the seal. And like that, two figures returned to the world of the living and breathed fresh air again for the first time in years. 

* * *

Author notes :

And done for chp. 1, I'm still thinking about posting chapters 1 - 3 as one long chapter 1, review away at them.


	2. Chapter 2 : First Thoughts part I

**I do not own Naruto**, if I did he would have know more clone jutsu.

**Chapter 2 : First Thoughts part I**

Location unknown.

Pain is all he could feel, it felt like every bone in his body had been broken and his muscles shredded, a white light was all he could see. "Am I alive?" he asked himself. As his eyes adjusted to the light he realized it was coming from the sealing, he looked down at himself and saw that he was in a bed covered with a white blanket and hooked up to several devices.

His mind was rushing a mile a minute before two thought stood out and his eyes widened, he attempted to move his body but failed as it seemed he barely had any control over it.

His struggles stopped when he heard a soft snoring and a small beep near him, he tilted his head to side, towards to noise, something that took all of his strength, he smiled when he saw the red head in the bed next to him, and like that Minato Namikaze drifted back to unconsciousness.

Later, location unknown.

She remembered looking at her crying baby before closing her eyes hoping that he would have a happy life, as a peaceful slumber overtook her, minutes seemed to pass before she felt the cold air on her skin and smelled fresh air, she felt like she was falling before a pair of hands quickly grabbed her.

Kushina opened her eyes, and noticed that she was in a dark room of sorts on a bed covered by a white blanket_. I'm alive?_ was her first thought, she could hear several noises but couldn't understand what they were saying or find from where they were coming from.

As she tried to move her hands she felt as if her body was tied down by several weights, she shifted in the bed several times before realizing that although she did not feel like she was restrained her body felt heavier, am I being drugged?, she quickly thought.

She decided that she needed to find get her bearings, she needed to keep a calm mind, she tilted her head to the right and noticed that a few feat away was a wall _"Great a dead end there"_ she thought, as she tilted her head to the left she noticed a second bed with a figure one it with a white blanket covering them as well, she moved her head, something that felt like trying to push a rock with her face, she recognized the figure on the bed _"Minato !"_ she thought.

She gazed at her husband for a while, he seemed to be connected to several devices, she recognized them as hospital ones, but what got her attention where the seals on his face and neck. "Are we in a hospital?" she asked herself, no she thought, of what little she could see of the room it seemed to spartan for a hospital room, more like that of a military base.

Her gaze returned to her husband "How are we alive? we should be dead because of Kyuubi's claw", her survival should have been almost impossible, it would have taken several miracles for her to survive the claw wound and medic-nins of Tsunade's skill to give her a minuscule chance at life, but for Minato summoning the Shinigami carried a death sentence.

She quickly panicked, _did the sealing fail ? was Naruto dead? _she thought, no the sealing went perfectly, then what could have happened? she stopped at hearing a loud voice coming from the foot of her bed. She decides to focus on the voices as they were becoming clearer now, the first seemed to the rough, the second seemed calm and the third, the third seemed oddly familiar to her.

"Ha I'm wining you little fools" she heard the first voice speak "Only for the moment" the second voice spoke, "Bah, don't encourage him" she heard the third voice, why did the third voice seem so familiar to her she wondered.

Kushina quickly turned her gaze to the left side of the room where a door opened, she could see light from what she guessed was a hallway. "did anyone come in?" was her thought, she didn't see anyone.

When she heard a fourth voice from inside the room close to the door, she realized that someone must have entered the room. "What are you doing?" the fourth voice asked, it seemed to be smoother than the others, almost feminine but with a bestial tone to it.

"Kicking their asses" the first voice spoke. "Letting him live with the illusion that he is winning" spoke the third voice, "playing a game" spoke the second voice.

"I can see that, but why are you playing a game when you should be watching over them until they return" the fourth voice asked in sickly sweet tone that Kushina knew all to well, she had used that tone when violence was promised and almost imminent.

"Those two are stable and nothing has changed, and these two kept talking about various fights. I figured this would silence them for a while" spoke the second voice.

"Bah, what does it matter we would have called them if these flesh bags were in trouble" spoke the third voice, why did it seem so familiar to her, that guttural voice, though it seemed to the lacking something.

Kushina's eyes quickly widened, _Kyuubi_, that was Kyuubi's voice, she panicked. "Becouse", the fourth voice began "she is awake" was the last thing the fourth voice spoke before leaving the room.

Kushina was trying in vain to move, while her thoughts were on how the Kyuubi could be free, before she stopped and could see nine small dark orange tails slowly appearing from the foot of her bed, and she heard its voice.

**" HA HA SO KUSHINA YOU HAVE RETURNED TO LAND OF THE LIVING NOW PREPARE TO FEEL MY WRATH"** she heard before the she felt a pain in the lower side of her neck and the last thing she saw where white eyes gazing down on her.


	3. Chapter 3 : First Thoughts part II

I do not own Naruto, if I did, the current version of Karin would be looked up in a mental institute

**Chapter 3 : First Thoughts part II**

When Minato awoke he could see that the light was dimmed or perhaps it only appeared to be so compared to the last time, he remembered that he had awoken for short periods of time before but it was never for too long and he would simply drift out of consciousness before long.

He mentally reviewed what he had managed to gather so far :

- both he and Kushina were alive, though how that was possible was still unknown, he had panicked first thinking that the sealed failed, thought when he remembered his precious son and seal on his stomach he realized that it was not the case.

- they were both in some sort of make shift hospital, mostly likely in a fort.

- they were hooked to medical devices and had seals placed on them, most likely to restrict their movements and chakra.

- he couldn't feel any hiraishin tags nearby, so they where all either removed from the area, something that was incredibly hard to manage, or they were in an area were there where none of them.

- someone was taking care of them, though who exactly was unknown, he had heard several voices and seen the blurs of several figures moving in the room.

- he was getting healthier or the seals placed on him were weakening as his movements became to feel less restricted to him.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard a noise from near him, he moved his head, something that was easier to do so now, he could see that Kushina was awake and looking at him, he smiled before speaking. " Morning beautiful, you look great " he enjoyed seeing her right eye twitch a bit.

"I wish I could say the same about you dear" she answered with a smile on her face, Kami he loved that smile. ,,I take it you have a few ideas about where we are and what's happened ?'' she asked, he nodded ,,Yes a few, it would be better to compare notes and perhaps see the big picture of things,, he spoke.

It was something normal for shinobi to go from a romantic moment to a serious business tone, they needed to do so in order to survive, have a few tender moments and cherish them before the shit hits the sealing again, was an old shinobi saying his sensei had told him.

She nodded, and looked expectantly at him, "you should start Kushi-chan,, he told her,

" Shouldn't you begin, you are the more observant of the two of us ? " she fired back.

" I trust your instincts, besides I am your superior think as giving a report" he told her before seeing her eyes narrow and adding ,,only in ranks my love,,.

" Well I would remind Hokage-sama that I am not on active duty as a blond baka knocked me up" she told him in tone he knew all to well, Kami barely was he back and he had managed to get sex of the table for at least a week.

" The last thing I remember was looking at Naruto with the Kyuubi's claw sticking out of my stomach before darkness overtook me and then.. " she trailed off.

"I remember looking at you and Naruto and then a felt cold and woke up in this room" he told her, " I .. she began only to stop for a few moments "I remember that after the darkness I could feel the cold air on my skin and could breath fresh air, I felt like I was falling before a pair of hands grabbed me. " she told him.

" I think I had nightmares as I could have sworn that Kyuubi was here in this room" her gaze flickered to the end of her bed. He followed her gaze but couldn't see or sense anything there, he was about to speak before she spoke again.

"I remember to seal looked perfect, so how are you alive, could something have gone wrong? " she asked in a worried tone.

"No", he told her, " the seal was perfect, I know I should be dead, and yet",

" I think we are in some sort of military base, possibly a fort,,she spoke, Minato simply nodded.

" I remember seeing white eyes like that of the Hyugas looking down at me at one point but that could have been a hallucination" Kushina spoke.

"If it was a Hyuga, then we may be in Konoha, in some sort of secret bunker" Minato told her, he didn't remember seeing one.

"I looked at the parts of the seals I could see placed on us but without seeing the whole thing I don't know what they do or how to break them" he paused after this."I think there some sort of medical seals and restriction ones though I never heard of combing the two or of such high level one". Kushina nodded at this.

"If we where in Konoha shouldn't there be someone here with us in case we woke up, the Hokage should have some more guards even if our survival was kept a secret" she spoke.

"It is odd, Sarutobi - sama must have retaken his position to keep things under control, and moved us to a secure facility, but this place seems to be more of a field hospital then anything else" he quickly took a few breaths of air, while Kushina looked worryingly at him, he smiled at her

"I'm not up to full strength, I think we've been here for a while" he spoke.

"We don't look any older" she told him.

For his part Minato simply nodded, Kushina looked a few years younger then she was and would remain so thanks to her Uzumaki blood, the fact that he looked the same could mean a number of things for him, only a small period of time had passed since the sealing, or the people taking care of them had some seals that preserved them carefully, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard her speak.

"Do you think Naruto is all right ?" she asked, he stretched out his left hand towards her, something he did with great effort, he wondered just how out of shape he was, she grabbed it with her right hand, he squeezed it.

"I'm sure he's fine and seen as a hero like I asked" he told her with a smile on his face. For her part Kushina did squeeze his hand as well but refrained from speaking as she could see the strained smile Minato had on his face.

"** Oh what a touching moment**" they heard and quickly shifted their eyes to the foot of there beds from where the voice came from.


	4. Chapter 4 : Prisoners in a sense

I do not own Naruto, if did it would have 50 % less Uciha emoness.

Chapter 4 : Prisoners in a sense

Talk now – normal talk

_What now_ – thoughts

Both Minato and Kushina looked at the foot of their beds from where the voice came from but failed to see anyone there. "Who's there ?'' Kushina asked looking around the room, but couldn't find anyone.

"**You don't remember ?**" the voice asked**. **"**I suppose it's alright we were never really close where we Kushina ?**" it interrupted before she could answer. _Who is this ? I don't know his voice, _Kushina thought.

"**Well you have some questions ask and I shall answer a few of them if I desire**"the last part was said with more force.

For his part Minato had attempted to find to voice but had failed, the voice now seemed to bounce from the walls of the room, and couldn't find the source anymore though he believed it was coming from the wall in front of them.

"Where is my son ? " Kushina asked, worry clear in her voice as she looked around the room, while holding onto Minato's hand.

"**In Konoha**"the voice calmly answered. That brought a small relief to both of them. Minato looked around the room again, and attempted to sense where the voice came from again, he gave a small squeeze to Kushina's signaling her to continue to talk while he attempted to find the other person. Before she could ask her next question the voice spoke again**. **

"**Though you have missed a few years of his life, hmmm by your ningen years I would say five years**"**. **That hit them both like a kick to the stomach, their son was five years old ? they had missed his first words, his first steps, they had missed so much. Barely did they have time to enjoy the fact that they could see their child grow up and now they had already missed out on an important parts of his life.

" Is he safe ? is he happy ? " Kushina asked. The voice remained silent for a time before it started laughing, making both parents uncomfortable.

" **No** " it answered, at which both Minato and Kushina's eyes widened. "**He is not, I've seen children living in forests happier and safer than he is, though perhaps it is better than the alternative, though I doubt it**".

"What do you mean he isn't safe or happy? " Minato all but hissed looking straight ahead at the wall in front of him, giving of as much killing intent as he could. For his part the voice did not seem to feel the killing intent, and calmly spoke.

"**Are you deaf ningen ? perhaps you hit your head, I answered that question already, though it is my opinion on his happiness** "**. **"Tell us what happened to him ? why isn't he safe ?'' shouted Kushina, Minato's mind was racing a mile a minute. _Did their enemies find Naruto ? did Danzo do something to him ? didn't the people protect him ?_. Both felt as if a wave crashed into them as a force pushed them down on their beds and the voice spoke again.

"**Ningens you do not give me orders it roared, I answered your question because I desired so, and**" the rest of his speech was cut short as the door to the room was opened.

Quickly the pressure in the room disappeared, the figure asked looking at a piece of the wall to her right "What are you doing ? ", Minato noticed that the person had a female build from what he could see and a clear feminine voice with a noble tone to her it., she was looking at the same area he was.

"**Entertaining the ningens**", the voice answered after an awkward pause, "flashing your chakra like that is entertaining? " the voice asked in a calm tone of voice, "**It was to me''**.

"**The idiot almost gave Kushina a heart attack I was allowed my own fun****", **the voice spoke**, ** "Yes, you've had your fun, now go, while I check on them". "**Very well**" the voice spoke in a curt tone, before the darkness seemed to recede from the wall in front of them and reveal a rather large old fashioned drawer there. The darkness of the wall seemed to be forming some sort of flame on the floor that quickly left the room. The female figure quickly touched a small switch to her left and the light in the room where turned on. Both Minato and Kushina winced at this and with great effort lifted their hands to shield their eyes from the light.

"You will have to forgive him, his manners are not the his strongest point ", it took a few moments before both their eyes adjusted to the artificial light and they got a clear image of the person in front of them.

The person was a woman, she had long midnight blue hair down to her shoulders, white eyes, _a Hyuga_, they both thought, a rather generous bust, when his gaze wondered there he could feel Kushina's eyes on him, she wore a brown robe with and intricate pattern on it, and wore blue ninja sandals, but what got there attention was her mask. A white mask similar to that of the ANBU, but her's was not in the shape of an animal rather it had strange symbols around the edges of the mask, ten of them, and the word SAGE written in large letters under the eyes.

Minato's mind raced to who this person could be and why she wore the mask now in their presence, _a new ANBU division ?, one dedicated to protecting himself and Kushina_, he thought, it was a possibility, the presence of the Hyuga meant that there was a chance that the people taking care of them were from Konoha. Another possibility was that she was one of Danzo's people, his ROOT NE that should have been disbanded under the Sandaime's rule, though he suspected Danzo still had a kept a small force of his old agents.

It was something he had begun to investigate, along with a way to cut all of Danzo's connections, when he had become Hokage. The problem was that although Danzo seemed to have little connections, the truth was that his roots ran deep, especially with the civilian council, he had made a name for himself in the the second and third shinobi world wars and had been the ANBU commander. Though his wounds had ended his fighting days, his mind was still sharp, he had proved it my leading the ANBU.

He remembered reading at what Danzo did to his shinobi as he put it, he stripped them of their emotions, while they could follow even suicidal orders without blinking an eye, and because of this they made excellent shinobi as Danzo claimed.

The problem was that they often lacked the spark, they couldn't create a new techniques nor could they react accordingly when a new situation that did not fit into their programming arose. The guidelines that Danzo gave them where strict, and when something appeared that they couldn't fit in those guidelines they stopped uncertain how to act.

While in close quarters they seemed to have a small advantage because of there training, in a prolonged battle and one where the field of battle changed they quickly began to lose. While regular shinobi would combine attacks in new ways, create new ones, set up traps that seemed to be too obvious to be considered the real danger, only for the ROOT agents to ignore it and for it to be sprung on them. In short they lacked the spark of creativity, they lacked imagination, when a new situation that required them to think outside the box, they had difficulty acting and often either many of there agents died or a great deal of destruction was done, revealing there presence and secret mission.

The woman seemed to have her emotions in-check, and the mask was different, the thought of Danzo allowing personalized mask was amusing. The woman's eyes seemed to be weighing them both, carefully analyzing them. She slowly began to move towards Minato and her hands began to glow in dark green color, Minato stared into her eyes and was about to speak before she spoke " Don't worry this is just a regular check up, you've both had these while you where unconscious ", Minato simply nodded, she began by moving her hands towards this toes and then slowly advancing upwards, at first he felt as if a small warm fire was coursing threw his body only to be followed by a cooling icy water, it felt invigorating.

" Your son is safe now " she spoke, as both Minato and Kushina seemed to brighten up at her words and a feeling or relief washed over them , " I will not tell you more about him though", that made them both frown. " Why not?, why can't you tell us why he wasn't safe or happy ? " Kushina asked anger in her voice.

" Even if you knew you could change little as you are at the moment, in time you will find out everything, until then take comfort in knowing that he is safe now " the woman spoke in a calm tone. That gave the two parents only a small bit of comfort, though she was correct and they knew it, they were weak and could do little now, if Minato's enemys heard of this they would be facing waves of assassins.

" You can call me Sage " she spoke as she brought her hands towards Minato's neck. " It's best if you close your eyes for the next part ", Minato looked at her before reluctantly complying. Again the feeling of a small fire and then of icy water washed over him, he felt energized and then exhausted, like he hadn't felt this tired since the war. Sage moved towards Kushina's feet and began working on her as well, Kushina gave a small grunt, as she the sensation overtook her.

"Ask what question you desire and I shall consider which I will answer" she said looking at the two of them, " I would advise against planning to attack me, the seals will insure you do not succeed, it would be painful if you attempted such a course of action".

Minato looked at her, he had considered the option but wasn't what succes he would have, if Kushina attacked from the one side, or kept her distracted he could have attempted to knock her out, now that plan was less likely.

" Where are we ? " Kushina asked.

" In a safe place ", Sage answered moving her hands towards Kushina's knees.

" Where exactly are we ? " Kushina asked with a hint of irritation in her voice .

" I have already told you have I not ? you are in a safe place ", she spoke " that's not what I meant" Kushina spoke threw gritted teeth.

" Well you should express yourself correctly, shouldn't you ? I can not read your mind to know what you desire to say" Sage spoke in her calm tone. Minato opened his mouth to speak, but did not manage to utter a word before Sage spoke again " Do you wish to know the current location of where we are ? "

" Yes, that is what we want to know " spoke Minato, Sage stopped above Kushina knees and looked at them.

" Does it truly matter ? " they didn't get a chance to answer as she continued speaking once more " Perhaps we are in Kumo ? " Kushina flinched at this, she still had problems with Kumo nins after they a few of them attempted to kidnap her when she was a small child, " or perhaps Iwa ? " this time Minato flinched, memories of what he had done to Iwa's army in the last war resurfacing, " then again we could be in Kiri, Suna or one of the smaller countrys". " What about Konoha ? " Kushina asked, Sage simply nodded and placed her hands above Kushina knees and began to her work once more.

" We are not in Kumo or Kiri and I doubt it is Suna " Minato spoke eyeing Sage back, to get to " Kiri we would need to travel by boat and in our condition it would present to great risk to move, Kumo is also excluded as it is located at a higher altitude and again it would affect our health. This place looks more like a fort made by leaf nin, I've seen Suna and Iwa forts and bases they are not buildt like this one".

"You may not be in Kumo, though you may still be in Lighting Country", Sage spoke in her calm tone as she moved towards Kushina's hips. " Are we in Lighting Country ? " he asked "No" Sage quickly answered. "Then why didn't you just tell us that ? " Kushina asked her rage rising, for her part Sage simply looked at her and spoke " Becouse you didn't ask ".

Kushina began to clench her fists, before Minato called out to her " Calm down Kushina" he spoke in a carring tone.

"How are alive" Minato asked.

"And with strange aeons even death may die" Sage spoke.

"What in Kami's balls is that supposed to mean? Dattebane!" Kushina yelled before realising what she had sayed, her face quickly became red, Sage chuckled lightly " It does run in the family doesn't it ? " she asked no one. " To answer your question, it meens nothing to you and everything to others".

"What did you mean it runs in the family ? " Kushina asked looking at Sage.

" You will understand in time " she answered.

" Are we prisoners ? " Minato asked.

" Aren't we all prisoners of the flesh in the end ? shackled to our prisons of meat until we receive our release ? " she stopped above Kushina's stomach. " It has been a long time since I have had a conversation that did not revolve around certain topics, I am as my beloved would say trying to milk it for all that it's worth". _So there is someone else, _both Kushina and Minato thought, and filed away the information for later.

She continued her work once more, moving her hand around Kushina's stomach, " Becouse of our long travels my beloved and I made it a game to be as illusive as possible and quickly move to a different subject when talking to people, it has become difficult to stop doing such a thing".

A few moments of silence passed before she spoke again " You are not allowed to leave at the moment" both Minato and Kushina narrowed their eyes at this.

" So we are prisoners" Minato spoke.

" In a sense yes, though you will be allowed to leave after you have recovered and trained, is this what it means to be a prisoner ? " Sage asked.

" Why are you doing this ? " Kushina asked.

" We have our reasons" Sage answered, before moving her hands towards Kushina's chest.

" Oi oi oi oi, where are your hands going ? " Kushina asked, Sage simply rolled her eyes before continuing and ignoring Kushina.

" What are these seals placed on us ? " Minato asked.

" I believe you have an idea, don't you Yondaime-sama ? " Sage quickly answered her hands above Kushina's neck.

" There some sort of medical seals and restriction ones, though I haven't seen any like them and especially not ones that were combined to such a degree" he answered looking at Sage.

" You are correct, they are a combination of medical and restriction seals, but they are also much more than that" Sage answered before moving her hands above Kushina's head.

" I will need a few moments for this", Sage calmly spoke before turning her full attention to Kushina. A few moments passed in silence before Sage lowered her hands and both Minato and Kushina could see the intense glow dissappering from her hands, she quickly moved to the end of the chamber where the recently revealed drawer was located.

" The seals to restrict you movements but they also help to heal and strengthen your body, what they do is apply pressure onto your muscle forcing them to work and break down, after which they release substances that help restore your muscles", both Minato and Kushina widened there eyes at this, they had both studied seal used in healing but had never heard of such seals, there uses would. Both there thoughts were cut short as Sage began speaking again " I see you've realised their potential " both nodded at this, and Minato asked " Did you create them ? ", " I was inspired to create them, but yes I created them " she spoke in the tone that gave off a bit of pride and enthusiasm. It was something both Minato and Kushina knew well, as they both lost many hours and nights discussing seals, their creation, what they could add to a seal, taking other ones apart and analysing them. He had done so with his sensei as well, and had almost failed a mission because of their heated discussion. When the three of them got together to discuss a certain seal hours seemed to fly by without noticing.

" With these seals and our training schedule, my beloved and I will have you back to full strength in 8 months, then you can meet your son". Both parents eyes widened at this, 8 months until they could see their son ? while it seemed long, at least now they had hope that they could see him, they would gritt there theath and pull threw this. Sage smirked at there reactions _Phase I – The base, the return, scouting, Phase II – Recovery, advanced scouting and quick retrieval, Phase III – The Gathering, Phase IV,_ Sage grinned under her mask _Phase IV is enclosing and the Phase V the fun. _

"Why do you want to help us ? " Minato asked looking at Sage, " My beloved and I have our reasons to ensure the return of the Yellow Flash and Red Death" she said as she cast her gaze towards the floor, " Though perhaps more important is that every child should have a loving parent by there side, especially if they love him so much as to throw themselves in front of Kyuubi's claw. " Both Minato and Kushina's thought returned to that event, they still didn't know if they had died or survived.

" Where we brought back with Edo Tensei ? " Minato asked, he felt alive but still wanted to know how these people saved them.

" No " Sage answered, " The both of you where brought back with a pure resurection technique, and that is all I shall say on that matter " both Minato's and Kushina's mouths opened and there eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, _they _

_had died ? a pure resurection technique ? who in world where these people ? _

Sage's grin grew, Kami he will love there expressions, " Now, unfortunately comes a rather unpleasant part", both Minato and Kushina raised an eyebrow at this, _what could be unpleasent? _

Sage raised her right hand then her middle and index finger before she released a small amount of chakra. Moments later the door opened and what looked like copies of Sage walked in.

"What she asked, did you think the Uzumaki were the only one's to use clones to their fullest ? " both Minato and Kushina stayed quiet at this, rumors had it that the Uzu was also known as the village of clones, and Minato knew that there was truth to those rumors.

Each of the clones took position near the two beads, as they both reached towards the beds Kushina spoke up " What are they going to do ?", checking your urine bags " the clone near Kushina answered. " Oh ok" she quickly answered, before shouting " MY WHAT? "

" You where unconscious before a period of time, and even now you will have difficulties walking, if you even manage that, so we had to apply one "

" You mean we have a a a, up our" Kushina spoke in a shaky tone. " Done " both clones spoke, a nod from Sage was all they needed for them to dispell themselves.

" You should rest, I will bring you something to eat in a few hours ", Kushina perked up at this, before Sage turned towards her " No ramen for now " Kushina had disapointed and shocked look on her face before she pouted.

" When you're better, we will revisit the ramen option " Kushina eagerly nodded and gave a shaky thumbs up.

After this Sage turned and left and turned the light off in the room telling them rest for a while as she should wake them when the food was ready and that she would send clones in to watch over them in a few minutes and help them reach the bathroom if they wanted to attempt it, she said looking more at Kushina before closing the door.

" What do you think ? " Minato asked

" I don't know, she seemed nice at the end, but still didn't answer all of our questions" answered Kushina.

"Whoever they are to use seals like these and to actually create a pure resurection techniques, they must have some power, I've never heard anything about a Hyuga seal master" Minato spoke.

" Me neither, did you notice how she spoke about her beloved ? " Kushina asked

" Yes, I think that there may be only two of them " answered Minato,

" They sayed that they have there own plans for bringing us back, we should remain vigilant around them" he continued.

" No need to tell me dattebane " Kushina quickly replied. " I'll play along for now, but I swear I will rip apart the people that hurt Naru–chan" she continued. Minato quickly nodded at this, he wanted to find out what happened to his son. He streched out his hand and Kushina grabbed it,

" We'll get threw this Kushi-chan, and we will see our son". The both smiled at each other before Kushina spoke again.

" Minato " she began in a low tone " We actually have something up our ... ",

" Kushi-chan we where having a romantic moment just now ", Minato spoke in an annoyed tone, Kushina snorted.

" Meh, there will be others girly boy " she smiled looking at him.

" Yes, there will be " he replied wearing a small smile on his face.

" I love you Minato "

" I love you Kushina", they drifted off to sleep holding each others hands,

Outside Sage was leaning on the door towards Minato and Kushina's room, she had a small smile on her face, she quickly turned and began walking when she noticed her lover approaching her.

" We were right, this world has many possibilities, some even managed to surprise me" he spoke.

" Oh, what more did you find scouting " she asked curiosity clear in her voice.

" Well it starts with " he began.

* * *

And that's it for chapter 4, longest one so far. Review away.

- didn't manage to cover everything I wanted here, so maybe in the next chapter or in an eventual rewrite.

- didn't touch on why she has the name Sage, the fact that she is a Hyuga, or Tobi or guy that finds time to paint his toenails inbetwen the raising a clone army, playing a Kage like a puppet to wage genocide, and giving supervising a bunch of S class missing nins.


	5. Chapter 5 : Training and meetig Juubi

**I do not own Naruto**, if I did you would know it.

**Chapter 5 : Training, thoughts and meeting Juubi**

"Kami's balls that was brutal" stated Kushina, as she slumped down on her bed, Minato groaned from the bed next to her signaling his approval, there training over the past few months had been brutal with streaks of sadism added to the mix, and now it was becoming pure torture. It started with a regime that could have been considered challenging by some people, but they knew and understood that, if they wanted to the get back in shape it would require hard training. She glanced at the seals on her hands, they where life savers, her mind wandered back to Sage's explanation on how the seals would aid in their recovery and the start of their training.

Flashback

It had been a few hours after Sage had left them to rest, or so she had been told by her clones when they brought food, can't we have a bloody damn clock in here? She thought staring at the ceiling.  
She had just finished eating the "healthy and nutritious food" that Sage's clones had brought them, it would help the recover faster, but it still tasted like crap, and it was a bloody damn paste, no solid food!. Apparently they would start the first part of their training once they finished eating. Sage's clones had unhooked them from most of the medical devices, but not the one I had hoped for, they were connected to as they were deemed healthy enough.  
Sage entered the room 30 minutes later with a few of her clones, she greeted them with a small head node, and moved to the foot of Kushina's bed while her clones began to move around the room, they where carrying cloths, books and a small wooden table.  
"How was the food?" Sage asked in her usual tone.  
"Great" Kushina replied sarcastically. " I hope we can eat that every day" she continued.  
"Oh don't worry you will be eating that for a long time, and if you like it so much I can serve it as a desert." Kushina's eyes seemed to widen at that, she was sure Sage was smiling under her mask, before she could say anything Minato spoke up " You mentioned that we would be starting our training to help us recover, can you tell us what that entails ? ", Sage nodded at that and moved her head to look at Minato.  
"Yes you are, the first part is getting you to actually walk on your own two feet again, normally it would take longer but this is where your seals come into play", she told them.  
"You mentioned that they slowly help to rebuild our muscles" Minato stated.  
"Indeed, but they have different levels, right now they are still on the lower levels, we've been slowly increasing them, now that you have awakened and your bodies are stable enough we will begin to use the more advanced levels."Sage stopped for a few moments before continuing "At the lower levels the seals can be used continuously for hours without much risk, and with normal rest periods, after your body reach a certain point there effectiveness drops, while they can still be used, the gain is much smaller then before. At the more advanced levels, the pressure placed on your muscles and later chakra coils is larger and will help to break down the muscles and build them up faster. The seals will feed on the chakra in your body and force your coils to grow faster, don't worry a build in part of the seals is that the pressure placed on the coils will be similar to several kinds of chakra control exercises."  
She paused for a moment to catch her breath before continuing " I will not answer any questions about the specifics of these seals or how you where brought back, sufficed to say that the seals require mastery over the sealing art, medical knowledge, the chakra used by medic-nins and human anatomy. Now if you are ready we can begin, I must warn it will be painful."  
Minato and Kushina looked at each other, they both had questions about these seals, especially considering what she had just told them but with no answers forthcoming decide to continue, there simply wasn't another path open to them, they nodded signaling that they where ready.  
Sage raised right hand to her chest and then raised her middle and index finger she seemed to concentrate for a moment before a blinding pain overtook both Minato and Kushina, it felt as if they were on fire.  
Time seemed to fly by them as the pain continued, their hands, shoulders and feet felt as if they were trying unsuccessfully to stop wild horses from running away by holding onto their tails while the horses put up their best effort to run away.  
A few more moments passed before the pain stopped, while their bodies stilled felt as if on fire it was more of a small one rather than the inferno from before.  
"That was 10 minutes, we will take a small break before we continue, you still have 5 minutes left" she spoke. Both Minato and Kushina stared at Sage when she spoke their minds having difficulty accepting her words, a few minutes passed by before Kushina spoke " Bullshit that was 10 minutes, it felt like hours went by" spoke in a loud voice.  
She sighed before speaking " Even though it is difficult to believe it is the truth, did you think that it would be painless ? the muscles threw out your bodys were placed under great pressure that is not without pain. The good news is that after this session and the rest period you will be able to walk normally and be able to reach the bathroom."  
" Are you a full blooded Hyuga? " Minato asked, Sage looked at him and nodded, " Are you a descendent of the Hyugas that did not join Konoha ? " he continued. It wasn't a know fact but not all Hyuga wanted to join Konoha, a few wanted to continue to wander, and it eventually came to blows between the clan members, most of them wanted to join, and the small number of the ones opposing where crushed, though rumors had it some survived and fled. The fact that no Hyugas were seen as part of other hidden villages forces in all time since their formation was seen as proof that the all the Hyuga joined Konoha, it was believed that the others died while fleeing or died without having a child.  
Minato's thought drifted to his friends Hiashi and Hizashi, true they had been Kushina's friends first and later became his as well, he smiled at when Kushina told him that she had believed that Hiashi and Hizashi where twin girls and had treated them as such for a year before the truth came out. Hiashi enjoyed the fact that while others seemed to walk on eggshells around him, Kushina would usually stomp on the eggshells without much care, it was refreshing change compared to his normal life and how he himself sometimes had to act. Hizashi on the other hand enjoyed running around and exploring with her, often aiding her with her pranks by acting as a scout. What Minato didn't know and what brought a smile to Kushina's face was that Hiashi had switched places with Hizashi a few times and had actually helped Kushina with her pranks.  
He wondered about his friend Fugaku and Kushina's friend Mikoto, the one who attacked them was an Uchiha his use of the Sharingan in controlling Kyubi and the fact the had kept it active meant that he had to be an Uchiha. While his student Kakashi had gained a good level of proficency with the sharingan, he couldn't use for long periods of time becouse of the chakra cost, the person who attacked him would have to have had massive amounts of chakra and to have had the sharingan for years to practive if he wasn't a pure blood Uchiha to maintain it active so long especially under battle conditions.  
He doubted Fugaku was actually involved in the attack, but most likely his clan would be blamed, he needed to find out the connection of the person who attacked him and Kushina had related to the Uchiha clan.  
Could the person who attacked them actually be Madara? there was chance of that, his manipulation of the Kyubi seemed to support that claim at least, the fact that he did not engage in a full battle but relied more on his space time techniques could mean that he was old and could not afford to fight any longer because of his age. Those techniques seemed to be related to his sharingan, which in turn again supported his claim of being Madara. Though who he could have survived for so long or even survived his battle with Hashirama simply raised more questions.  
With the attack security in Konoha would be raised and the people would protect his son, it still meant that there was a spy in Konoha, one who knew that Kushina had the kyuubi sealed in her and the fact that the seal holding it would be weakened during childbirth, that list of people was very small, the Sandaime, his wife, the elders and Jiraya knew about Kushina.  
The ones who had sealed Kyuubi in Kushina had passed away long ago and he doubted that Danzo would ever endanger Konoha to such a degree. The possibility that Madara had used the sharingan and forced one of the elders to tell him the location where the ANBU were sent was becoming higher and it made it more believable that the person who attacked was indeed Madara.  
While Fugaku and Mikoto would likely have needed to stay away from Naruto for a time, he had hoped that at Hiashi and Hizashi had been there for his son, a small part of him told him that they would be most likely kept away as to not allow any one clan influence over the jincuuriki, he scoffed at that he had asked that Naruto been seen as a hero, doing that would only make the clan look bad and be doubted that people would have ignored his dying wish.  
His thoughts were interrupted by Sage' voice " Yes I am a Hyuga, and no I am not a descendent of those Hyuga that did not join Konoha".  
"Then are you part of Konoha ? or did you defect?" he asked, the clan was paranoid about losing their bloodline, the caged bird seal was supposedly created in order to help the clan protect it, though it became something else over time. Whenever a clan member left the village on a mission they were expected to follow certain rules, they had strict rules to ensure no bastard children were sired.  
"Perhaps I am part of the true Konoha, the one you do not see, the one that is underneath, and you refused to acknowledge" she spoke in the same calm tone as before, Minato's face became a scowl, the underneath part reminded him of Danzo, but the chances of a Hyuga joining him was slim, trying to kidnap one would represent a high risk that could work against.  
" A wise man once said that the only time your morals matter is when your back is against the wall, tell me do you think that after the Kyuubi's attack Konoha held true to it's morals? " Sage asked, " Yes " Minato answered without hesitation, he had faith in his people, he missed the look in Kushina eyes when Sage asked him though, a look that would suggest she had a different answer one that she feared to contemplate.  
" Your faith is to be commended, the worlds need's idealists, I only hope that it is never shattered", "It won't" he replied curtly, " I wonder what will happen if it is? how would you rebuild it? and what would you become? " she aked. " I know my people I have faith in them, that will never be broken, I do not doubt it" he replied with steel in his voice.  
Sage nodded her head, " We must now continue the procedure "  
" Can you give us ten minutes? he have a son to get back to " Minato asked.  
" No , your bodies are not prepared for that just yet, after a few session we will increase the time to 20 minutes ", he didn't get a chance to respond as Sage made a familiar hand sign and pain flooded there systems once more.  
Both of them were barely awake by the time she was done, they heard her telling them that she would return later after they had rested in 8 hours or so, barely did he see her close the door to their room that darkness took him.

A few hour later

When Kushina awake she felt as if she just returned from a strenuous workout, her body hurt but it was a good kind of pain, the healing kind, it showed that she was making progress, just a bit more and she could see her son.  
She wondered if she could reach the bathroom to take shower, her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Minato's voice.  
" Your awake " he said in a cheerful tone, she looked at him and saw that he was reading a book, where did he get that ?, she then noticed two small tables between their beds with books on them.  
" Hmm, have you been awake long? " she asked him.  
" Only an hour or so " he answered placing a bookmark in his book before placing it on the table nearest to him.  
" Have you tried to see if you can walk normally? " she asked.  
" I wanted to but when I saw the books and started reading them I forgot about it " he replied scratching the back of his head.  
" Of course you did you blond baka" she replied in a slightly annoyed tone of voice.  
" That reminds me I want you to look over something, it's strange " he told her before grabbing a book from under a the second table and handing it to her.  
She raised an eyebrow at this and looked at the title of the book when her eyes widened, the title read " Introduction to seals for beginners " by Saito Uzumaki, she had never heard of a book like this, she noticed that the book had some bookmarks in it, and Minato simply nudged his head towards them and she started reading.  
Half an hour later Kushina closed the book, "this is" she began " the first parts are good but later ... is it some sort of trap? , the people who try to make a seal using this book would get injured. " She paused and placed the book back on the table, there where books on seals, but not many, Minato had talked about writing a book similar to this one while back, but with the war and him becoming Hokage he simply didn't have time.  
" Is someone using my clans name to sell these things? it will help sell the books but later when the people get injured it would make people give up on seals thinking they where to dangerous, heck some may blame the Uzumaki for their injuries." She was terrified of the thought of small children getting injured because of this book.  
"I don't know, but there's more" he handed her another two books and she looked at them, both had the title "Chakra theory" by Ikari Zakiri with some bookmarks in it, she simply opened the books and began to read the sections Minato wanted her to read, one after the other. What is this, did a civilian writes these?. There were civilian authors who wrote about chakra from what they knew and were able to discover themselves and from ninjas, some prefer to write about their own observations, and include the opinions of monks on it.  
The sections Minato had bookmarked were different in each book, and were different from what she knew. Did know no one check this ? that was basic knowledge, what he wrote was wrong and he didn't even present it as a theory but as the truth. She opened one of the books at a random page and then opened the second book to the same page and began to read, they were the same, she raised an eyebrow at this. Kushina closed both books and looked at their covers, then read the first few pages of both books, it didn't say that one featured different ideas, in fact they were identicall.  
"What is this ?" she asked, "who would write this ? and why would Sage let us read them, we could recognise that these are fakes" a thought struck her did Sage use that book on seals ?.  
"I'm not sure, but chances are that the other books here are similar to them" Minato said motioning to the pile of books on the two tables between there beads.  
" I remember Jiraya sensei told that at one point he considered writing another version of his books becouse he had different ideas for certaine scenes, these books are similar to it" he continued.  
" So what the author had different ideas and decides to write them both in the book? how would that work, half of the books published would have his first idea and the second half the other one? without even mentioning that they were different version ? " she asked.  
Minato shrugged his shoulders " Mostly likely, I don't know the reason why she would leave these books here for us to read though". Just then the door opened and two Sages stepped inside the room, one heading towards Minato and the other towards Kushina.  
"Have any of you attempted to walk yet ? " the Sage next to Kushina asked, they both shook their heads to signal that they did not, they realised that these where clones of her and kept their questions to themselves.  
"Let's try it now, we will each help you" spoke the Sage next to Minato, the next minutes say both Minato and Kushina managing to take there first steps around there beds, with the help of the Sage clones when they lost there footing. After 10 minutes of this, the both of them sat back down on their beds.  
" That was easier than I thought it would be" spoke Kushina.  
" It is because of the seals, the last session was meant to bring you this level" spoke the one next to Minato. "Now we can remove the rest of the devices from you" spoke the one next to Kushina.  
"Yatta" spoke Kushina lifting her hands, Minato smiled at his wife's childish outburst.  
After the devices were removed,much to Kushina's happiness, one of the clones left the room with them while another stayed behind and neared the drawer in the room before addressing them. " When you step outside this room right in front of it there's the bathroom. " she placed her hand on the drawer "New clothes and towels are here, we've also placed what supplies you will need in the bathroom", before she exited the room she turned towards them,  
" We will bring you food in one hour, though we ask that you do not engage in more recreational activities here or in the bathroom. "  
" Recreational activities? " Kushina asked with a raised eyebrow.  
"Sex" the clone responded, "We must ask you to refrain from it for a time".  
" The hell barely can we move again and you think we will jump each others bones?" Kushina asked.  
The clone tilted her head to left as if not believing her " Very well, please forgive my assumptions" she spoke in a falsely innocent tone. At this a vein on Kushina's forehead started to throb.  
" If you want more books just inform us" the Sage clone spoke.  
" The information in these books " Minato began  
"Are truth to some, while for others it is not " she told them  
" There's not a lot of truth in these books, this book on seals is dangerous" Kushina said picking it up "If you used the methods described here you would injure yourself."  
"Your truth is not the only one that exists." she told her before exiting the room.  
" What the hell does that mean? " Kushina asked in a curious tone.  
A few minutes later both Minato and Kushina made there way towards the door wanting to see if the could explore the place where they where, they where surprised, which in hindsight was to be expected when they noticed to barriers of a dark purple color on the left and right side of the hallway.  
There inspection revealed that they couldn't see threw it nor could objects pass threw it, trying to use a jutsu against it while in there weakened state was out of the question, add to the fact that in such an enclosed space the jutsu could affect the walls and injure them as well leaft them very few options. While the barriers were brilliant and showed both the skill of the user setting such strong barriers in an enclosed space, with no seeable way to break them, it also showed that the person must have high chakra levels to maintain it. It mainly annoyed them as it barely gave them more room to move around in.  
" Only one way to go huh? " Kushina asked before opening the door to the bathroom and stepping inside.  
The bathroom was small, she didn't really expect it to be too big, it was in fact more of a luxury as in most forts the showers would be common, maybe the room and bathroom were given to the commander. The color inside was white, on the left wall was a sink with a large mirror above it, a small shelf under neath the mirror with soap, toothpaste, two tooth brushes, shaving foam and two razors. A small support with two toals was at the same level as the shelf. _Two of everything huh? well not everything, no two soaps._  
At the center wall was the toilet and shower, she noticed that next to the toilet was a box filled with toilet paper, a large brush in a plastique support of sort and a bottle of what she guessed was cleaning liquid for the toilet.  
She noticed a white drawer next to the right wall a small distance away from the shower, while looking inside she found more towels and 2 roabs, she grinned and turned around towards Minato who was right behind her, she placed a hand on his chest and gently pushed him out of the room. She winked at him and told him "I have dibbs ja ne " and slammed the door in his face.  
Kushina then turned around and looked at the shower it didn't have a shower curtain but rather was surrounded by some sort of plastique with a sliding door in the middle, it looked hastly put together. When she looked inside she saw that there was a small shelf with two more razors and some shaving foam, and the floor were four bottles of soap and six of shampoo. How did they know girly boy would want a few more ? Honestly the Hyuga and him are so alike in that regard.  
She then noticed a small note attached to the shower head and she picked it up to read it. The note had chibi Sage giving a piece sing with her right hand and winking with her left eye with a small bubble over her head that said "Please do not engage in recreational activities in the bathroom, that means sex Kushina" she crumpled the note and threw it in the toilet.  
" I'm going to hurt that woman, badly, soon" she spoke in a quite tone.  
Kami that felt great ! Kushina thought as she exited the bathroom dressed in a white robe and with a towel around her head, when she entered her room she noticed that her bed seemed to have been changed, and there was a new table with a few dishes of food at the foot of her bed.  
She glanced towards Minato and saw him reading a book, he smiled at her raising his head from the book, " They changed the bed sheets and brought some food", Kushina went and raised the lid covering her food and she quicky groaned when she saw what was inside.  
" Great more goo stuff ", she slowly sat on the bed, took a small spoon and began to eat.  
" Honestly it's not that bad " Minato told her closing his book.  
She sent him a small glare, " It's not ramen, that for sure" she mumbled.  
" It's not your cooking either" he mentioned, she raised an eyebrow at this " Is someone trying to score points Mr. Namikaze ? " she asked batting her eyelashes." Possibly " he answered and made his way towards the drawer in the room that had a few clothes on top of it that he picked up,.  
" There are some clothes we can sleep in, there in the second to last drawer. " Kushina nodded at this.  
" Read anything interesting ? " she asked.  
" You could say that, it's similar to the other books" he stated.  
" How so ? " she asked.  
" It talked about a battle that took place in the Black Forest during the Unification Wars between the forces of Oda Nobunaga lead by Ranmaru Mori and the forces Shingen Takeda led by Hara Masatane" he spoke with a thoughtful look on his face.  
" I don't remember reading anything about a battle there between those two, was it a minor one? " Kushina asked.  
" The book claims that it was a small battle and ended with a draw because of the heroics of Ranmaru Mori, but that's just it, this is the first time I read about such a battle in Black Forest, the battle between the forces of Shingen Takeda and Oda Nobunaga I read about took place days later away from the forest. None of the history books we have in Konoha mentions this battle."  
" Do you think it's a fake ? " she asked putting down her spoon and looking at him.  
" Perhaps, I keep thinking about Sage's words" he spoke,  
" Wich ones ? " Kushina asked.  
" Your truth is not the only one that exists " he told her.  
" I don't understand if it didn't change the outcome of the main battle and it was not a great loss to either side why hide the battle ? or if it didn't occur why added in the book ? " she asked looking at him.  
"I'm not sure" he stated.  
" Do you think it was made as a fake to fool some rich noble and later humiliate him ? " Kushina asked.  
" I doubt it, I don't understand why Sage would give us these books" Minato spoke.  
" We'll ask her, the next time we meet" Kushina told him, Minato nodded and headed to the bathroom with the clothes he had picked up.  
When Minato exited the bathroom and entered his room, he noticed that Kushina was already asleep, he gave her a small kiss on her cheek before going to bed.  
Their sleep was short lived as a few hours later Sage woke them up and performed the procedure, they didn't get a chance to ask her anything as she quickly left. Kushina cursed as now they needed to wash again.  
Minato looked at Kushina gave her a small smile before he spoke up " Kushi-chan " ,  
" Hai ? " she asked " I have dibbs on the bathroom" he told her before going towards the bathroom.  
" Damn blonde " she muttered before going back to sleep.  
The next day they awoke and found Sage sitting in a meditative position, in the middle or there room, as soon as she say that the two where awake she spoke " I have unlocked a training field nearby that you can use, but first we need to use the procedure "  
Minato and Kushina prepared themselves for the pain that was sure to come, it helped only a little but it was better then nothing.  
"About the books" Minato managed to speak between ragged breaths, Sage simply looked at him " The information in them" he continued.  
" Yes ? It is not what you expected", Minato shook his head at that, "I will keep there origin a secret a while longer from you, but if you are interested in other kinds of books please tell me what kind and I will search for some of them" Sage told him.  
Minato seemed in deep thought for a moment before speaking up " Books on seals, barriers, space time techniques, the shinobi world wars, the warring states period, Konoha, jutsu creation and a pen and some paper " Kushina seeing what Minato had done weighed in on the conversation as well " Ano can you bring me what you have on the Uzumaki clan, seals, sword fighting, Yukimura Sanada, Giochi Tachibana, Tomoe Gozen, Miyamoto Musashi, cook books and books on pranks." Sage just stood there and stared at them for a while " You do not dissapoint, the training ground is open, just walk out the room and you will see it" she told them before exiting.  
Eventually after they had rested the two existed the room and observed that the barrier to the right had disappeared, they walked down the hallway and reached a very large room and saw Sage there in a meditative position with two bottles and scrolls near each of her knees.  
"Welcome, my creator sent me here to monitor your progress while going threw your training regime, that are contained in these scrolls, also you should drink these, pointing towards the bottles, during your workout it will help in your recovery" the now revealed Sage clone told them.  
"Where is your creator? " Minato asked curious about it, " she had a few errands to run, no worries I will take her place for a while after which Juubi will take over". Is that her beloved? they both thought.  
Minato glanced around the room, it appeared to have an obstacle course set up surrounding the room, mostly likely to make running laps more interesting, a few wooden shuriken, kunais and swords could be seen on a table in the middle of the room. He looked at the wooden pillars a few feet away from the walls, _they can't be part of the original construction, they don't support the ceiling and look new, did they set them up for us ?_

Both Minato and Kushina picked up the scrolls and opened them, the training was harsh but not impossible. They quickly began to perform the exercises in it.  
The training had the usual, push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, and others, but what got their attention was the part about sparring on water pillars, when they asked where the water where the sage clone proceded to create water pillars between the wooden ones.  
Their sparring would start on the ground, move on the wooden the pillars than on the water pillars and then back on the wooden one, while difficult it did help improve there chakra control.  
There schedule for the next two weeks mostly consisted of : waking up, the seal procedure, washing and eating, the first part of there training, lunch, the second part of there training, dinner, the seal procedure and showering before going to sleep, every day they would add a bit to the training, such as five more push-ups, and running one extra lap. When they asked the sage clone lasted so long, she simply told them that her creator had a few back up plans and not to worry.  
One evening one returning to their room they noticed four empty tables a few feet away from their room, they wheren't sure of their purpose until they entered their room.  
"What the hell? " asked Kushina with wide eyes, behind her Minato could only stare dumbly at the sight before them. It looked like someone had created a wall made of books between their beds.  
"Well we did ask for a lot of books" Minato stated moving towards his bed and noticing a few scrolls, a small wooden plate, must be a writing support, a large stack of empty papers and a few pens. Barely had he looked at the titles of the books that he heard Kushina shout his name and quickly went over to her.  
"What's wrong? " he asked seeing her startled face, she just placed her hand on a book, and when his he looked at it he realised why she was so startled. The books around her hand where all about the Uzumaki clan, they read , History of the Uzumaki clan vol. I, II, III, IV, V, The Uzumaki clan in the Warring States period, Legacy of the Uzumaki clan, A travelers guide to Uzu, Allies of the Uzumaki clan, A study on the relationship between the Uzumaki clan and the five major hidden villages, The Sealed Fate : A book about the fall of the Uzumaki clan, Seals : A study between the seals the hidden villages compared to that of the Uzumaki clan, and there where more of them.  
Minato's eyes widened at seeing how many there where, he placed his hands on Kushina's shoulders and squeezed a bit.  
" We don't know how much truth they have in them, just write some of the things you find interesting " she nodded and started looking at the other books. He knew it was a sensitive subject for her, a lot of information about the Uzumaki had been lost over the years with the fall of Uzu.  
When Minato returned to his bed and began looking at the books his attention was grabbed by a book with the title A study of the greatest barrier users, someone wrote a book on that ? he looked at the other titles, it definitely was what he had asked for, and perhaps a bit more one of the books had the title A look at the forbidden love affairs in Konoha, he was certain he didn't ask for something like this.  
"Ano Minato-koi, do you also have some rather strange books ?" Kushina asked in a curious tone.  
" Hai, Kushi-chan I was looking at one right now called A look at the forbidden love affairs in Konoha".  
" Huh I'll raise you one called Possible Bastard children of Yukimura Sanada" Kushina said.  
When Minato looked closer to the where the scrools and pens where he noticed a small note that simply told them to leave the books that they have read on those tables.  
Their schedule stayed mostly the same for the next month, only increasing in difficulty, and towards the end of the month they started to practice jutsus, and used a newly created barrier as their test dummy.  
During the fourth month of their training and return, of which they were informed, their traing doubled, the seal procedure now increased in the time it was used and how long it was used fro, reaching 40 minutes. Sage had sent a number of clones armed with a variety of weapons to fight them in all forms of combat, using ninjutsu, kenjutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and even medical jutsu. A greater emphasis was placed on their own ninjutsu practice then before.  
They had asked how many clones Sage had left behind and when they would see her again, her answer had not amused them as the clone told them that Sage had returned and overseen their training already and left once again. The good part was that they were given sealing supplies and could practice with it, though they were told that setting a trap or trying to use them against the barriers would have painful consequences for them.  
At the start of the fifth month when they reached the training room they where surprised to find someone else there, it was a man with spiky blond hair like Minato's and looked to be the same height, he wore black anbu pants, black sandals, a grey shirt, and a white mask with what they guessed where tails around the edges of it with the word Juubi written in large letters under the eyes, his eyes though unnerved then they where demonic shade of red with black slits.  
"You must be Juubi" said Kushina looking at him, where his eyes some sort of bloodline ? he couldn't detect a henge.  
"No shit, was it the writing on the mask that gave me away? " he asked in a deadpan tone of voice.  
Kushina's right eye twitched a bit at that " Look's like someone doesn't have any manners" she told him.  
" Yes people say that I take after my mother in that regard " he said.  
" She must be a lovely woman" Kushina shot back glaring at him,  
" She was, any way you can call me Juubi or the man who will put you threw hell with a smile on his face, either of the two is fine, because I will be in charge of your training for the foreseeable future. " he said giving them an eye smile.  
The two nodded at that, their training had helped greatly and they were stronger now, they were curious as to what it would entail.  
"First I need to do this" she said making a one handed sign, the next thing they knew both Minato and Kushina were on their knees and felt like a wave of water crashed down upon them. " It's the next level of the seals you have on your bodys, basicly resistance seals and seals that restrain your chakra, while still exerting some pressure on your coils. "  
There eyes widened at the both Minato and Kushina had been working on creating a new form of resistance seals for a while but with little success, the ones that existed required someone of a master level to draw them and where not resistant enough to be used in training, they fade away from water, sweat would affect them, and they need it constant checking.  
_To think they managed to already create them but simplify and mix them with other seals._ They were both in awe at this and badly wanted to ask them about how they were made but knew they would get no answers.  
What followed during the month could only be described as hard tranning with hints of sadism, it started with them having to double their already existing training schedule, while they were at half their strength, and later to triple it out right. They sparred with Juubi's clones in almost every way: swords, kunais, fists, ninjutu, genjutsu duels, the most annoying things was that his clones all seemed to have different styles. One of the clones Kushina sparred against using swords, used a style that focused on quick slashes while the next one used a style that focused on dealing heavy blows.  
Whenever they seemed to adjust to the new level of their seals he would simply raise the level a bit more.  
It was at the start of the fifth month that Juubi took them outside of the fort, they where curious to see what the surrounding area looked like and perhaps getting an idea of the area they were in. That idea ended quickly as they noticed that the are was surrounded by the same purple barrier walls that where present in the fort as well, the area looked like a larger training ground then the one inside the fort, with even bigger obstacle courses and wooden pillars.  
What followed were full on spars with everything Minato and Kushina had, entire days they would do nothing but fight.  
It was during the second week of the fifth month that Juubi had them each run a new obstacle course, they wheren't sure what to make of them.  
"Well go ahed have fun" Juubi told them, the shrugged their shoulders and each went to their obstacle course.  
Kushina looked at the first part of her obstacle course a small not explained that for the first part all she had to do was dodge and walk only on the ground no jumping over the obstacles to get threw it. She noticed that the obstacle course had wooden dummys with wooden batons attached to them coated with a white substance and spinning. She wasn't sure why they were about the substance they were coated with though she could tell that there some that were just genjutsu.  
She took a small breath before taking a closer look, the dummys spun in a random pattern, so making a plan on that was out, she would have to rely on her speed and reflexes, that were impeded thanks to her seals. She took a running start and charged towards them, there were probably more to them but she would find out what exactly after entering the course.  
Minato looked over his obstacle course, all he had to do was swing from a rope to another while below was tank formed by several barriers and where several seals wore drawn of the ground, he could tell that some of the roaps had genjutsu on them to a degree and made a mental note to avoid them, he took one last breath before starting.  
Towards the entrance of the fort stood Juubi a smile under his mask, Sage approached him from behind and stood next to him.  
" Your back " she said in a cheerful tone " How are new guests? "  
" Resting, they should be up in a few hours" Sage told him, getting a nod from Juubi.  
"Do you think we should have told Kushina that... " Sage began only to be cut off by a loud voice filled with rage "THERE FUCKING ELECTRIFIED YOU SON OF A BITCH",  
"No I think she found out, hm I wonder how she will react when she realises that some of the batons are made of iron, some are simply genjutsu, other have three layers of genjutsu added just to hide what it protects" Juubi mussed.  
" What about Minato ?" Sage asked. A loud scream could soon be heard though it was not followed by profanities.  
" I think he may have figured out a part of them, though not that some where also electrified, would rip easily, some where coated with a substance that required high chakra control or they would slip, or the fact that is he falls the seals on the bottom will shock him and increase his weight a bit making it difficult not get back up. But I think he probably knows that now"  
" I take it there will be a cold shower at the end of the obstacle course to help them cool down? " Sage asked.  
" I made it lukewarm this time, " he told her.  
A very wet, pissed off and tired Minato and Kushina returned to the front of the base only to discover that Juubi had left, they made their way back to there rooms where they quickly dried themselves using the towels and changed their cloths.

Just then the door opened to their room and a familiar face walked in. " Tsunade? " Kushina asked looking startled at seeing Tsunade.

* * *

A.N.

Longest chapter to date, holy cow balls, that was long.  
I first wanted to rush threw their recovery and training but simply found that I was unable, I've read a lot of stories that do that and I just don't like it when everything is so rushed.  
The title of this chapter was supposed to be called Training, thoughts, meeting Juubi and ensnaring a slug, though as I started writing it just grew bigger and bigger finally I realised that I had to settle for just having Tsunade appear at the end.  
Still rushed some part of the training and cut some things down, no thought from Minato on Juubi's clones using different styles.  
Next chapter will contain an extremely amateurish fight scene as try to write one between Sage and Tsunade.

Review away  
Constructive criticism or pointing out a possible errors/issues within the story is always welcomed.


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